Our site is an outlet for real and timely information; documented facts that Santa Clarita Valley residents should have access to and should be aware of in order to make informed decisions. Vital information, notices of community meetings and the like needs to be easily assessable; not buried in a thinly read newspaper or in some hard to find place on a City controlled website.
Whether it is the local hospital or toxic waste site; questionable or duplicitous behavior by local elected officials we will be commenting and discussing it openly and transparently. This is how it should be!
It is important that elected officials be kept in check; that local residents make sure that those in leadership positions are making decisions based on the best interests of the residents that they are representing. Not ignoring the will of the people, disrespecting those with differing opinions and making backroom deals at the expense of residents.
The Santa Clarita City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 22nd, was a perfect example of the blatant misrepresentation and lack of transparency going on locally by elected officials. You can see highlights of that meeting in a documentary video titled “Ender Math” which displays the heavy handedness of the City Council in ignoring local residents.
The video clearly shows an inept Mayor who supposedly was on an ad hoc library committee still confused and asking about the special Library Tax. The fact is that last September I wrote a column that detailed the process, based on Proposition 218, in which the City will not be able to collect the existing County special Library Tax. In fact, the County Special Library Tax will go away on July 1st should the City takeover the County libraries. The City will then need to ask residents to vote on a new library tax to replace the existing County Library tax.
Based on the Mayor’s clumsy comments, there still appears to be much confusion at City Hall. That is a direct result of a lack of due diligence and the ever present need for City Council and Staff to rush and rubberstamp these types of decisions without a full grasp of the facts or the process which we have often written about.
Even the Deputy City Manager, Darren Hernandez, is seen in the video of the March 22nd meeting admonishing the local paper for publishing an article with incorrect information; certainly not the first time the paper is wrong (nor the last). That is just another example of the misinformation that seems to seep out of the City and its newspaper.
You can also see in that video that the City Council continues to be arrogant and disrespectful to the residents even in light of more than 10,000 signatures on a petition. Even in light of the clear confusion on the special library tax and lack of due diligence, the City’s newspaper continues to defend the City Council and a staff.
Folks, the City Emperors are wearing no clothes regardless of what the local newspaper is reporting!
The Beacon however will continue to do its best in getting information out to the community and making sure that there is a real free press in the Santa Clarita Valley. We will continue to strive at being a true community publication in every sense of the word. It is a place for timely information and thoughtful commentaries where everyone can have a voice; our Constitutional rights!
Dave Bossert- Commentary
Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.